Jamaal Charles scores 4 touchdowns in first half versus Raiders, finishes with 5 total

Jamaal Charles made it look all too easy against the Raiders. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) The only people happier than the Kansas City Chiefs about the

Doug Farrar | Dec 15, 2013

Jamaal Charles scores 4 touchdowns in first half versus Raiders, finishes with 5 total /

Jamaal Charles made it look all too easy against the Raiders. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

The only people happier than the Kansas City Chiefs about the first-half performance of running back Jamaal Charles are the people lucky enough to have him in their fantasy leagues. In the first half of Kansas City's game against the Oakland Raiders, Charles tied a league mark with four touchdowns, a total that also ties the franchise record for scores in an entire game. Running back Larry Johnson racked up four touchdowns against the Seattle Seahawks in October 2006, with three rushing touchdowns and one through the air.

Charles inverted that formula -- he rushed for just 16 yards on six carries in the first half with one touchdown on the ground. However, he ripped the Oakland Raiders defense to shreds on short passes, embarrassing his enemy defenders for three touchdowns and 116 yards on six catches. He added another touchdown with 3:34 left in the third quarter, when he ran away from Oakland's defense after another short pass from quarterback Alex Smith. According to Josh Dubow of the Associated Press, Smith's five touchdown passes traveled a total of 13 yards downfield. The 11-3 Chiefs beat the 4-10Raiders 56-31, and clinched a playoff berth just one season after going 2-14.

[si-nfl-player id="50849b0d80e74aaebf712b165372a9d2"]

Charles is always a threat to take it to the house, but the Oakland defense, which ranked 16th in the NFL in pass coverage against running backs this season, had no answer for him. Kudos to Charles' teammates for their downfield blocking, but between Charles' sick agility and a complete inability to tackle on the part of the Raiders, this was a unique one-man show.

Published Dec 15, 2013

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.